October Kitchen - August 2020

THE POWER OF INVENTION

“Years ago, a friend of mine was very ill. A group of us got together and contributed to October Kitchen

gift cards for her. I remember how helpful it was to her to have those meals delivered. At the time, I was a teacher working 14-hour days. I was never home and when I was home, I was exhausted. I decided to check out October Kitchen myself and see if it was something that would help my family and me. It was so simple to walk in and pick out your meals and the people were so friendly. I went in having no idea what to do and they were happy to help me out. October Kitchen is a simple, easy, friendly place I highly recommend!”

Christine Knows Kids Who Will Change the World

W hat if there was a biodegradable balloon that helped plant flowers or a face mask that was as stylish as it was functional? These are the kind of amazing inventions Christine Lawlor-King gets to see all the time, not from scientists in labs or researchers in think tanks, but from school children around the world. As Invention and Entrepreneurship Learning Manager for Invention Convention Worldwide, Christine knows firsthand how intelligent and creative kids can be when given a little encouragement. “It’s the best program ever,” says Christine, a former STEM teacher who works with schools locally and internationally. “Our program is for students, kindergarten through 12th grade, who create inventions at their school. They present their work at escalating events, all the way to global presentations. It’s a lot of work, but when I get around the kids and the teachers, it’s so much fun.” There are a number of STEM programs that encourage students to create something new. But while most programs give students a specific problem to solve, Invention Convention Worldwide encourages students to look around and solve problems they see in their own lives

–Christine Lawlor-King

When Christine was a teacher, she was teaching invention. Eventually, she became the STEM coordinator for her school district and had the opportunity to bring Invention Convention Worldwide to her district. She loved the program so much that when a position with them opened in Connecticut, Christine was thrilled to make the leap. Now she works for The Henry Ford Museum, who took on Invention Convention Worldwide as an international project. “When I suddenly found myself working from home, I thought I would have all this extra free time,” Christine admitted. “Turns out when you work from home, you don’t have any time away because the work is always there. I love what I do, but it could be a 24-hour job if I let it. I’m really glad we started using October Kitchen. It makes things simple. I can pop a meal in the oven, keep working, take the food out when it’s done and have dinner with my family. Getting meals from October Kitchen takes me away from my work less and gives me more time with my family when I’m not working.”

or communities. Christine has met kids who created a way to prevent splatter from stand mixers, used the technology of Tide Pods to create environmentally-friendly balloons that dissolve over time and even pipes that distribute disinfectant spray when people go in and out of buildings. “We see kindergarteners coming up with things adults haven’t invented,” Christine says. “They come up with everything themselves. Three years ago, well before COVID-19, I met a sixth-grader who was reworking face masks. After seeing how her grandmother had to wear a mask in her nursing home, she felt masks had bad energy related to them. She came up with Epic Mask, a mask that’s both fashionable and effective to protect against viruses and bacteria. This girl has been working on her mask for the last three years. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, she’s been making masks and donating them locally here in Connecticut.”

2 OctoberKitchen.com

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